Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms



A. N. NEWTON.

' Breech-Loading Fire-Arm Patented June 27,. 1854.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER N. -NE\VTON, OF'RIOHMOND, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

S ecification forming part of Letters Patent No. ll,'l98., dated Jnnc27,1854.

To all whom it may concern.-

v3e it known that I, ABNER N. NEWTON, of Richmond, in the county of\Vayne and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Breech-Loading Fire- Arms; and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 is aside viewof apistol constructedaccording to my invention, having one sideof the shank which unites thebarrel with the stock removed, to show the lock and the mechanism bywhich the breech-pinand the cock are operated. Fig. 2 is a similar view,showing only the mechanism for operating the breech-pin, and that in adifferent position to Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a section in the red line :0 asshown in Fi 1. Fig. 4 is a top view of the breech-pin. Fig. 5 is a backview of the fork and thumblever employed to draw back the breech-pin.Fig. -6 is a back viewof the cock. I

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

This invention consists in certain improvements in the method ofarranging and operating a sliding breech-pin, and in the arrangement andmeans of operating the cock, whereby the repetition of charging andfiring is enabled to be performed with great rapidity, and the arm canbe carried and handledwith a very great degree of safety.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and 'use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

The barrel A is united with the stock by means of a hollow iron shankmade in two parts, B C, of which the part B is capable of being readilydetached, for the purpose of exposing the interior, and in each part orside of this shank is a groove, a, to receive a tongue, I), on eitherside of the sliding breech-pin D, and direct the movements of the saidpin in a line with the barrel.

The construction of the breech-pin is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. It hasa part, d, capable of fitting closely in the back part of the chamber,and when that part c is in the chamber the part behind d fits to therear of the cham- '.load the piece.

either-side, to receive one of the prongs of a forked lever, e e, whichis firmlyattached to an arbor, E,'which corresponds with thetumbler-shaft of an ordinary fire-arm, and protrudes through the side 0of the shank far enough to receive, outside the shank, the lever F,which I term the thumb-lever, and which is firmly attached to the arbor,for the purpose of drawing back the breech-pin to The arbor E has aspring, f, attached to it and to the side 0 of the shank in such a waythat afterv the breech-pin has been drawn back by the action of theforked lever e e, and the lever F has been released, it will be returnedto its place (as shown in Fig. 1) by the action of the spring. Thecharge, which is employed in the form of a cartridge, is placed .upon ashelf, 9, which is fixed close in the rear of the chamber and is leftuncovered when the breech-pin is drawn back. The breech-pin is covered,when in place, as shown in Fig. 1, by a plate. h, which is attached toit by a screw-pin, i, so as to slide back and forth in grooves providedto receive it. The breech-pin has two other recesses,'j jone on eachside-to receive the two sides of the lock-piece 7.1 7., which is offorked form and slides in upright grooves Z I in the sides B (J of theshank. This lockpiece is drawn down far enough to set free thebreech-pin when it is desired to be drawn back, and is raised to lockit, when thrown forward, by the act-ion of a slotted plate, G, attachedto or forming a portion of the forked lever c e, and a small lever, 11,which swings on a fixed fulcrum, m. The greater portion of, the slot nin the plate G is in the form of an are described from the center E, buta short piece at the back part is straight, as shown in Figs. 1, 2. Onearm of the lever II. is furnished -with a pin, 0, which plays freely inthe slot, and its other arm, m, which is curved, plays between thebottom of the lock-piece and a transverse pin, 17, attached to the same.\Vhen the drawing back of the thumb-lever commences, the action of thestraight part of the slot upon the pin is such as to raise it and throwdown the part which acts upon the lock-piece, thus throwing down thelatter and unlocking the breech-pin. \Vhcu the arc-formed part of theslot receives the pin, no further motion of the her with a shoulder. .Ithas a recess, a, in lock-piece takes place, but the breech-pin is thebreech-pin is in place.

- kept unlocked. In drawing back the thumbform, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,that they may act as'wedges in driving home the breech-pin.

The cartridge to be employed in this firearm is of that kind which isexploded by be- .ing pierced with a needle in the rear, which containssome detouating composition. The needle q is fitted to slide freelythrough the breech, and is held back by a spring, 3 so that its pointdoes not protrude through'the breech-pin until the head at its back endis struck by the cook. the needle in other fire-arms. Thecock I issubstantially like the rock of other guns, except that it is attacheddirectly to the tumbler and is within the shank B 0, instead of outsidethe piece. It is fitted to work loosely on the 'arbor E, and is cockedby drawing back of the thumb-lever, preparatory to the loading of thepiece, being thrown back simultaneously with the forked lever c c bymeans of a pin, 8, which is inserted transversely through the lower partof the .forked lever, and which comes in contact with the tumbler. Thetumbler is represented as composed of two plates, tt, which both fit theshaft and receive between them the hub of the forked lever e e and plateG. The coekis held back by a catch, a, and feather-spring w in the usualway, which are set free by'the trigger J,-and it is made to strike whenset free by a .mainspriug, '0, substantially like that commonlyemployed. (See Fig. 1.) The loading and discharging of the piece isperformed in the following manner: The piece is held in the right handin-the usual way, and the thumb-lever F, which occupies the placeusually occupied bythe cock, is drawn back byth'e thumb until thetongues b b on the sliding breech-pin arrive at the back of the groovesf Y a a, as shown in Fig. 2,, and the lever can move no farther. Duringthe early part of the move- "ment from the positionshown in Fig. 1,'thestraight part of the slot n in the plate G is in operation on the stud oin drawing down the locking-piece 70 late unlock the sliding 'breeehpin,and by the time that is free the prongs of the forked lever e e havereached theback of the recesses c c and will commence moving This issubstantially like back the breech-pin. The cock at the time the drawingback of the thumb-lever commences is in the position represented in redin Fig. 1; but about the same time as the breechpin commences moving thepin 3 comes in contact with the tumbler t t, and commencesthrowing backthe cock, which issecured by the fallin g in of the catch it beforethebreech-pin stops.

The cartridge is placed on the shelf 9 with the left hand, and thethumb-lever then setfree, when the sprin'gf'quicklydrives forward-thebreech-pin and drivesthe charge into the barrel. .The piece is now readyto be discharged,

which is done by pulling the trigger in the or-- dinary way and settingfree the ,hammer to strike and drive the needle forward.

Agun constructed on this plan may be loaded and fired from twenty tothirty times in a minute. It is more free than a gun ofordinaryconstruction from" any liability to acciental explosion of the charge,as if the thumb lever is accidentally caught and moved while the gun iscocked, it does not affect the cock in any way.

\Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method herein described of operating the sliding breech-pin D bymeans of the lever c e, the thumb-lever F, and the spring f, all appliedor attached to the arbor E, which forms the tumbler-shaft, and operatingsubstantially as set forth.

2. Locking and unlocking the sliding breechpin by means of alocking-piece, k k, which slides in grooves in the stock or shank of thegun, and a lever, H, having a stud, 0, working freely in a slot ofsuitable form in a plate, G, attached to the same arbor as the levers bywhich the breech-pin is operated, the whole being arranged and operatingsubstantially as set forth.

3. Fitting the cock and tumbler, or other equivalents usually secured tothe tumblershaft E, loosely to the said shaft within the stock or shankof the piece, and causing the cock to be driven back, to cock the piece,by

means of af-pin, ,8, attached to the lever e e, by

which the sliding breech is moved back and forth,-whereby theslidingbreech is allowed to return afterthe cartridge is introduced andleave the piece cocked, substantially as herein described. ABNER N.NEWTON.

W itnesses! JOHN K. BOSWELL, Y

J OHN FINLEY.

